TiVoToGo DRM cracked

A new open source utility can convert TiVoToGo files into MPEG movies and …

An open source command-line utility that converts TiVoToGo movies into an MPEG file and strips the DRM is now available online. Released under a BSD license, the utility—called TiVo File Decoder—builds on the extensive reverse engineering efforts of the TiVo hacking community. The goal of the project is to bring TiVo media viewing capabilities to unsupported platforms like OS X and the open source Linux operating system. TiVoToGo support is currently only available on Windows.

Once again, the efforts of the resourceful open source community have demonstrated that users are willing to invest much time and effort protecting their fair user rights. TiVoToGo DRM removal tools were practically inevitable, so this isn't much of a surprise. It's worth pointing out that lack of native TiVoToGo support for Linux gave the DRM crackers a rather big incentive to get the job done.

The TiVo File Decoder also runs on OS X, though it has to be compiled from source code since nobody is distributing binaries compatible with OS X yet. User reports indicate that after an additional conversion to MPEG4, DRM-stripped TiVo content is playable on video iPods.

The TiVo File Decoder only works on Series 2 TiVo hardware, since the TiVoToGo functionality isn't available on Series 3 systems. TiVo has not yet responded to the availability of the TiVo File Decoder, but one can't help but wonder if the company will fight back with a DMCA takedown notice or other action.